Game Jams for Academic Libraries: Lessons Learned from a Collaboration with the Makerspace

Abstract

International Games Month is an initiative run by the Games & Gaming Round Table of ALA. Held each November, libraries of all types across the globe host a variety of gaming-related programming. One popular event is a game jam, where participants gather for a set time to either create a game from scratch around a common theme (a 2022 theme was “the connections we make through reading”) or create new iterations of an existing game. These can take place either in person, online, or both, and can be used to create any type of game. While these are held frequently in school and public libraries, they are less often held in academic libraries. Those that are held in academic libraries are often focused on digital games rather than physical games. In November 2022, I held a game jam at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Lied Library in collaboration with our Makerspace, with specific interest in how my experience might differ from other game jams held during International Games Month.